Shore Line East (SLE) is a commuter railroad operating in southern Connecticut. A fully owned subsidiary of the Connecticut Department of Transportation (ConnDOT), SLE provides weekday service to communities along the Northeast Corridor between New Haven, Connecticut and New London, Connecticut, with continuing service to Bridgeport, Connecticut and Stamford, Connecticut, and connecting service to New York, New York via Metro North Railroad's New Haven Line.

History

The section of the Northeast Corridor SLE operates on was once the New York-Boston mainline of the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad. This line is referred to as the Shore Line east of New Haven, to disambiguate it from the alternative Inland Route via Springfield, Massachusetts.

In recognition of the large role played by the New Haven in the history and heritage of the state of Connecticut, ConnDOT paints SLE's diesel-powered locomotives in the New Haven's colors and "NH" markings.

SLE was established as a temporary service to newly-reopened local stations between Union Station in New Haven and Old Saybrook, Connecticut, to alleviate traffic congestion that arose from scheduled construction work on Interstate 95. The restored service proved more popular than expected, and the service was made permanent, and extended one station east to New London. To attract more riders, some peak hour trains were extended to provide one seat rides via SLE to employment centers in Bridgeport and Stamford.

Current Service

Most SLE trains run local westbound from Old Saybrook to New Haven in the morning, with some nonstop eastbound service. This traffic pattern is reversed in the afternoon and evening rush. A handful operate through New Haven to or from Stamford.

Service to the New London Station has been cut down to a single train in each direction every day. This is despite the popularity of the New London service after it was introduced; Amtrak was forced by the U.S. Coast Guard to curtail traffic over a moveable bridge. The Coast Guard has jurisdiction over marine traffic, and thus over how often the bridge can be closed to allow a train to pass. To make it up to SLE customers, Amtrak allows New London SLE monthly pass holders to board selected Regional trains.

All trains that do not operate west of New Haven make a connection to a Metro North Railroad train at New Haven, for service to and from points in Connecticut, Westchester County, New York, and New York City.

Although SLE service is funded by ConnDOT, it is operated under contract by Amtrak. Amtrak owns and dispatches the Northeast Corridor east of New Haven. West of New Haven, the Corridor is owned by Metro North.

Rolling Stock

In contrast to Metro North's New Haven Line, whose rolling stock is also purchased by the state of Connecticut, SLE trains are diesel push-pull trains, as opposed to Metro North's electric multiple units. SLE runs diesel service because, when it was purchasing motive power, Amtrak had not yet electrified the Northeast Corridor between New Haven and Boston. While the purchase of electric motive power is a long term goal, there are as of now no immediate plans to do so. When it happens, though, it is expected that ConnDOT will reassign the locomotives to a new proposed commuter line along Amtrak's New Haven-Hartford-Springfield, MA line, which is expected to imitate SLE's operating model.

As of late 2004, SLE has just purchased several single level coaches from Virginia Railway Express, to increase its fleet size to accommodate higher ridership, as well as to provide a critical reserve in case of mechanical breakdown. Mindful of the weather-related equipment failures that plagued both Connecticut commuter railroads in the winter of 2003-2004, Governor Jodi Rell has directed that the new cars be put into service immediately, without even taking time to paint them in SLE livery.

Station Listing

See Northeast Corridor.

External Links

Official Shore Line East page

Shore Line East Riders' Association